FPSRTS? YES! Executive Assault

Finally. FINALLY some more people have realised Dungeon Keeper 2’s possession mechanic was rad as hell. Executive Assault is a sci-fi RTS/FPS hybrid, which isn’t an entirely unique genre but one grossly underpopulated. You build up a standard RTS base while also being able to directly control individual units, which is the sort of thing I quite literally dreamed about in my younger years. And now one-man squad Hesketh Games have it up on Greenlight. You can use your magic powers/future technology to view the trailer through my eyes, or click through to it below. Your choice.

I’ve calmed down a bit now. It’s not the prettiest beast, or the most refined looking, and it is awfully ambitious for a small first-time dev. However, I’m just glad it exists. It’s an idea I want to see everywhere and honestly expected to be far more popular by now. Beyond its central component, the game is doing a couple of other interesting things. Its focus is on being a good skirmish game, rather than jerry rigging cutscenes and narrative to make a campaign. The story’s simple: you’re a CEO trying to smash other corporations and take over the planet using robots.

Executive Assault plans to let players go inside individual buildings to assassinate rival CEOs or shut down power grids, on top of controlling massive walkers or flying aircraft. Due to the FPS side, the insides of buildings will need to be defended too, while the layout of a base will be even more important than usual. There’s also plans to randomise the tech tree in each new game, with paths opened up and others removed. That’s unlikely to be the best competitive element, but in casual environments it will force variation and adaptation.

Meridian recently proved a solo-dev’d RTS was possible. I can’t wait to see if adding a whole other genre on top of that is too.